Newsletter

All of your promo, whether it's your headshots and resume, voiceover demos, your web page or demo postcards, must be kept current and CONSTANT. In other words, you need to devote a few hours a week to preparing your mailings and getting postcards out to 200 or more professional contacts, either to make your name known or keep you current and connected to the work you intend to land.

Beyond that, your auditions are probably the best promo you have going for you as a talent. So, be sure to consistently turn in your best work. That takes dedication, too. If you've yet to secure an agent then you need to promote yourself until you do. (Follow the complete game plan laid out in the "How To Get An Agent" section of The Sound Advice Encyclopedia of Voiceover And The Business Of Being A Working Talent.)

The aim is to arrive armed and ready to work. Professionally this will always be expected of you, so if you aren't on top of your skills and able to deliver to the best of your ability, then you will be promoting a faulty product. Your metal will be tested, that's a promise. If you aren't up to the task you will only succeed in destroying your credibility.

Concentrate on devoting no less than 20 hours a week toward your career goals. Most small businesses demand countless hours every week just to get the ball rolling. All I'm asking you to do is commit at least 20 hours a week to:

- Vocal warm-ups and cold-reading. Devoting 20 - 30 minutes, three to five times a week to vocal warm ups and 20 - 30 minutes, three to five times a week to cold reading will allow you to develop or remain on top of your vocal agility, articulation and dexterity. This is what we consider standard practice no matter your skill level. it's your responsibility to maintain these essentials regardless whether you are already in a class, a stage production or such "a seasoned professional" you're "beyond such trivial things." Your career relies on it.

- Continual coaching and training in auditioning, commercial work, improv, on-camera and/or voice-over are essential. As a professional you are expected to continually develop and maintain your skills and current knowledge of the industry. Your confidence and ability depend on it.

- Effectively promoting yourself entails . . .

a) Pursuing and securing representation from at least five talent agents (for voiceover) nationwide.

b) Making yourself known to potential clients (producers and casting directors) through repeated postcard mailings that have a single promotional intention for each.

c) Auditioning for a minimum of five voiceovers a week.

d) Linking your voiceover web page to as many reputable professional sites as possible (i.e. voiceoverinfo.com, voicebank.net and voice123.com). These sites promote your voiceover to its greatest potential while remaining completely SEPARATE from your on-camera work (because no one wants to SEE what you look like in voice-over, they want to IMAGINE what you or the spot looks like). Your on-camera promotion requires you post your headshots, resume and a brief on-camera reel (if applicable) on actorsaccess.com*.

*Please note: Your actorsaccess.com page is the ONLY online presence we recommend for talent intent on seeking and securing on-camera work. The truth is, and this is a little-known fact, there's really no need to create an on-camera web site separate from www.actorsaccess.com, since it's the industry standard much like voicebank.net is for voiceover. On this page you can (and should) have a link to your voiceover web page. HOWEVER, your voiceover web page should NOT link to your page on Actors Access. There are two reasons for this: the fewer clicks it takes to get to your demos the better, and limiting access to images of yourself, again, allow the listener to simply IMAGINE what you look like! Additionally, we encourage you to register for the variety of added (pay) features on actorsaccess.com to grant you the best possible opportunity from this site.

Just Visiting . . .

This e-mail just in:

"I honestly had no idea that dropping by (at Sound Advice) was unprofessional. Your warmth and friendliness towards me made a quick drop-in seem OK. Obviously, this is part of the learning process. I appreciate the email and it will not happen again."

--Joe Talent

That's right. You should never just show up unless you've gotten the okay in advance. Even though we love you a lot and look forward to seeing you succeed, just "dropping something off" or "just dropping by" is distracting and not welcomed in any studio, casting office or production house--not just ours. And frankly, it's only appropriate to do so with a handful of talent agents, yet even they aren't receptive to you simply showing up unexpectedly to "meet & greet."

Frankly, like the agents--we want to give you all our attention. As it is there are about 30 other people thinking exactly the way you are which makes it difficult to accommodate in small space like ours. We want to give everyone our undivided attention. However the unintended result is we end up feeling totally anxious if we aren't able to do so.

So . . . please understand why our policy is for you to call in advance and get the okay, first. Lucky for you, we're a busy office. That can only work to your advantage. it's important to note this is the policy for every talent agency, casting and production house nationwide as well--not just us.

By the same token, if you call to cancel the day of your scheduled coaching session or you simply don't show up, chances are you will be charged. We, like most businesses, must use our time as efficiently and effectively as possible in order to continue to service you and others. It only stands to reason.

So, please be courteous and professional in your use of other people's time, as well as your own. (Common sense is not all that common and standard professional practice is generally not well known, so it can't hurt reiterating these points here.)

Soliciting Feedback, part II

Soliciting feedback on your professional promotional materials is a tricky thing.

The real question is: what do you intend to do with that feedback? Do you honestly plan to re-tool your entire demo, if that's what they suggest? Before you go to extremes, first determine who it was that suggested what. Beyond that, ask yourself, "Was the feedback truly constructive or are the changes too costly to actually implement at this point? Can you objectively determine whether the changes that have been suggested will make a marked improvement or are you simply gilding the lily?" In other words, when should you simply leave well enough alone and when is it necessary to upgrade in order to land work?

Before you go to extremes, first consider the following:

1) Who suggested the changes? In other words, consider the source. Who was it that suggested what.

2) What changes were suggested? Are they likely to make the demo better? (Be honest with yourself, first and foremost.)

3) Was the feedback truly constructive, or are the changes to costly to actually implement at this point? Consider the time and cost involved--is it worth it to make those changes? Can you objectively determine whether the changes that have been suggested will make a marked improvement, or are you simply gilding the lily? Maybe you should simply leave well enough alone, and promote yourself with what you have for the time being and upgrade in six to nine months.

4) If you've asked everyone under the sun what they think, and you're left with--"I like what I have there after all . . . " Then it's very likely the professional you asked for feedback will wonder why is you even asked if you weren't intendeing to heed their advice. Kinda seems like a waste of time for everyone. Which is in part why I don't really recommend you ask every "pro" you ever met for feedback. Everyone has an opinion. It doesn't mean it's valid or even a uniform consideration held by the majority in the industry, so that input may spin you out rather than propel you forward. The fact is, most professionals, even those you know personally, expect you to arrive fully realized.

5) And lastly, if you absolutely must solicit input rather than trusting your own experience, be sure the source willing to assist you gives you something tangible you can implement, such as "The volume is a bit hot on the third spot. And I didn't understand what you were saying on the last spot even after playing it again and again--diction. I would have preferred more imagery overall. Aside from that I think it works. It sounds very finished."

Now, all that said, every so often my agent will request a change on my demo that I might honestly disagree with. Do I make the change anyway? Sure, I'll give it a try. If I can live with the change without too much time, effort and additional costs I'll incorporate it into that agent's version of the demo. It doesn't hurt me to make them happy. I may only give that agency that track, and I maintain the version that makes me most happy overall for my replicated disc and voiceover web page.

My primary commercial voiceover agent generally wants the spots I've booked through them up front. In their minds, the producers who booked me on those spots will notice and book me again. I don't have any stats on this; it's a nice idea, but doesn't always make the best mix for a successful demo. Frankly, producers move on to other gigs with such frequency anymore, I'd be dead impressed if they even noticed we went to all that work and expense just for them.

Nevertheless, like I said, I'll create that track to make the AGENT happy and to satisfy them. Why not validate your agent by taking their suggestions? I'm not married to only my way. Sometimes you just don'tknow until you hear it. I don'trule anything out.

With the demos we produce at Sound Advice, chances are great we've already explored that version. We put our demos through quite a few standard requirements that are rather extensive and detailed, many of which you will probably only begin to appreciate five or six years down the line.

Production can be very elusive, especially when it comes to the putting final mix and then order together. We don'trecommend you try to do this in your head. As I said before, sometimes you just don'tknow until you hear it. Even if you've mixed a thousand demos or more like we have, sometimes you just don't know 'til you know.

This is precisely why most people honestly can't do this for themselves at home, even though today so many people have the facility to do so . . . Today, it seems everyone's a "sound engineer" or a "graphic artist," simply because they have the program on their home computer. It doesn't mean they're proficient enough to do so. As I always say--leave it to the professionals if you expect to yield results. Besides, most folks are just plain too close to their own work to be objective and aren't experienced enough professionally to know what's required of the demo. The production skills necessary to create a demo that communicates precisely who you are and what you bring to the table, quickly and efficiently with strong, national (sounding) spots is an art. This takes a seasoned team effort, and we're dedicated to that effort here at Sound Advice.

Why Renew Your Web Hosting with Sound Advice

Here's the deal: Your voiceover website needs to be linked to as many resources as possible that will direct the necessary people to it. Not the least of which is voicebank.net, though it's certainly not the only site . . . and one or two talent agents' sites. The aim is to be with as many as six agents nationwide on voicebank.net.

In addition to that, your site should be connected with well-established sites such as voice123.com, as well as Big House Casting and Sound Advice's websites. (We are considered 'old real estate' on the Internet, since we've had a web presence for more than 10 years now. We are probably one of the very first sites to surface on the net when it comes to voiceover, which allows you access to more job opportunities. This premise alone is reason enough to remain linked to our sites.) A site that isn't linked anywhere is much like having a note in a bottle floating around in the ocean. If it's all by its lonesome out there, who's likely to find it (especially if you haven't made anyone aware of the fact that it exists)?

Hosting your own site is an option, but then you have to stay on top of whether the domain name is about to expire and so forth. We take care of that for you when we host your site. We set up and administer your site, make sure it's up and running, and even set up an email address (joe@joetalent.com) that will automatically forward to your existing email account. And when you host with us, we automatically feature a link to your site on both the Big House Casting and Sound Advice sites.

Now, do you pay to be connected to these sites? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Again, provided you maintain an active role in promoting your web page through repeated mailings of postcards to potentially interested parties. Capiche?!

One Last Point of Interest

Every week, you should be receiving an email from us with a link to the Sound Advice workshop podcast.

Even the computer neophyte can subscribe to our weekly podcast with a few clicks, and then receive it weekly from that point. It's free, and a GREAT way to keep on top of what's new in the industry, while learning from other talent. - Kate and crew